UNIVERGE MA4000 Expense Management Improve performance & control costs with web-based monitoring and analysis www.nec-enterprise.com
Does my telecom expenditure reflect my level of business? Is my telecom infrastructure adequate for the size and volume of activities? What is the correlation between volume of customer calls and business results? Are departmental communications allocated and charged fairly? Can I examine our organization s operation patterns in real-time? Contents 3 Telecom Expense Management 4 MA4000 Expense Management 6 Modular Architectures & Modules 7 Summing it UP 2
Telecom Expense Management For many organizations, telecommunication expenses represent 25%-35% of total IT costs. Despite such cost levels, many companies don t have a system for charging usage back to the appropriate unit or individual. The increase in mobile phone usage complicates matters further and makes it even more difficult for organizations to properly track telecom expenditure, while their total telecom costs generally increase. Driven by the need for insight in and control and reduction of these costs, companies are conducting an increasingly active telecom management policy, which generally results in savings of 10 to 20% of total costs. Leading industry analyst Gartner has reported that the majority of telecom invoices are wrong by an average of 6-8 percent overbilling. Other studies have shown that with proper telecom expense management companies can easily lower their OPEX by 10 to 20%, which means an incredible return on investment with respect to the applicable management tooling. To reduce telecom costs, it is first of all necessary to determine usage throughout an organization and subsequently ensure that usage is charged to the appropriate unit. Then, where necessary, user behaviour can be changed in order to reduce expenses. MA4000 Identify operational cost (OPEX) - Daily management cost (how much time do you spend on cost control?) - Equipment cost (is equipment expenditure in line with your company s scope?) - Indirect cost (how does reachability effect your SLA?) - Calling cost (do you have proper insight in the nature of your telecom costs?) Define how OPEX can be optimised Execute and implement improvements in an easy way Ensure that the cost remains under control by integrating management into the business process NEC s MA4000 Expense Management offers the full set of Telecom Expense Management applications, such as call accounting, billing, invoicing, mobile management, budget control and asset management. In today s dynamic IT & communications landscape and with communication costs generally soaring, MA4000 Expense Management provides an extremely effective way to lower costs and increase management efficiencies in daily operations. 3
MA4000 Expense Management For better performance, less costs MA4000 Expense Management provides an integrated, scalable IT solution for businesses of any size and market segment, supporting pro-active and policy-based facilities ranging from customer care to billing. MA4000 offers the full set of Telecom Expense Management (TEM) applications, such as call accounting, billing, invoicing, mobile management, budget control and asset management. It works on every available system, besides those from NEC also those from other major switch vendors including Cisco, Microsoft Lync, Avaya, Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel and others. This is particularly useful in mixed networks, where centralised billing independent of the type of server/switch can be provided. The system s modular architecture allows the application to be easily expanded by adding new modules in accordance with customer requests, special projects or market trends. A policy-planning module implements and monitors real time performance and usage according to an organization s criteria for budget control, user performance and system health. Day-to-day operation is simple and intuitive, requiring no technical expertise. Easy access from a web-based portal allows businesses to control their day-to-day tasks from one screen and do everything from tracing a call within a few seconds to monitoring corporate-wide usage information. MA4000 Expense Management is offered in two versions: MA4000 Expense Management Light Edition (LE) a full featured single site call accounting system suitable for small-to-medium-sized business MA4000 Expense Management Enterprise (ENT) best suited for medium to large businesses Both LE and ENT versions can run standalone or integrated with MA4000 System Management and can support a multivendor environment. The application is designed around an architecture supporting multi-tier processes, queues and services, which offers the benefit of distributing loads across multiple servers and provides growth opportunities and flexibility. MA4000 Expense Management gives insight in: Operational costs Know what you are spending Audit Control Know if your phone bills are correctly priced Fraud Control Know if your system is abused Activity analysis know how your communications are used Performance know who is using your equipment and when Utilization Knowhow and to what extent your devices are being used 4
How do I keep my costs under control? A proactive system for efficient telecom budgeting Automates activity analysis Issues alerts and reports Streamlines workflow processes Announcing when budget limits are reached Security Identifies internal fraud and harassment calls Pinpoints calls for security purposes Grants permission to a user on data and feature level Centralized management Collects / reconciles data from any traditional, hybrid or IP based switch to a central repository, including collection of mobile usage such as voice, data, text, SMS and MMS usage Web based access offers control from any place. Manages exceptions Identifies potential fraud and policy abuse Defines fraud and policy abuse alert triggers Allows to track special numbers like 112 Automatically bars an extension (optional) when exceeding budget Analyzes traffic and use Assesses trunk usage Indicates penalty for removing a trunk Pinpoints the busiest time of day for call traffic Assists in planning your telecom infrastructure for the future PSTN Calls Data Sources Pipeline Module Other Calls Data Sources Monitors, reports, allocates & controls costs System Database Allocates costs per business unit/user - raising awareness and reducing costs Analyzes costs and call duration by user, destination and hit parades Job Scheduler Tools Provides a ceiling budget tool per employee / group & issues alerts Direct access to view and classify calls as personal or business through a web based interface Tools Viewers Reports Proactive Alerts Costing Data Maintenance Serviceability Improve company s reachability and response time Analyze calls from cradle to grave Web Client Mail Client Costing TLR, etc. Storage Externel Systems 5
Modular architecture Supporting business growth MA4000 Expense Management is fully modular, supporting the ongoing expansion of system functionality and giving you the flexibility to meet special project requirements and market trends. Alone or bundled, Expense Management modules deliver telecom expense management options aimed at reducing enterprise communications costs, increasing visibility and maximizing staff resources including invoice and bill management, payment and allocation, chargeback and allocation reporting, contract management, help desk, budget management and dispute resolution, and management options. MA4000 Expense Management has the following modules: Call Accounting My Portal Collects, analyzes and tracks voice and data usage from Provides a personalized, secure web portal for users and multiple communication sources including legacy voice, VoIP, managers giving a consolidated view of all significant cell phones, IP gateway devices and phones, and calling information, such as alerts, calls, reports, directory, devices, cards. Detailed call accounting reports are accessible from etc. The simple user interface accommodates easy operation anywhere in the world via the Internet. of common tasks. to user-defined procedures. With optionally automatic COS (Class of Service) control (depending on the type of communication server or switch). Private Calls Management The Mark Calls as Private functionality is a web application that provides all personnel with the ability to review calls made over a selected period of time, mark and authorize the private calls. All unmarked calls are classified as business related calls. Access to the personal page can be granted by a valid username and password. It ensures that insight in the personal usage of the company telephone is easily available for tax reporting purposes and enables the masking of personal calls in various reports to protect the privacy of the employee. Tie Line Reconciliation Enables calling reports via networked PBXs usually in different locations. Alert Notification and Fraud Detection Alerts administrators of inappropriate calls and disables call resources if fraud rules indicate it should do so. Alerts are sent via e-mail, pop-up screen, or SNMP device based on the rules. In case of severe fraud, the relevant devices can be shut down by changing the class of service. Invoice Management Manages telecom and other variable-type invoices (utility, leasing, etc.). Provides consolidated invoice repository, bill-back, convergent invoice and private calls management, bestpackage simulations, policy abuse and erred charges detection. Budget Management Defines and controls the budget for each person, department or device. The system s policy-planning capability allows to manage and keep tight control over telecommunications expenses. Once the assigned budget limits are exceeded, exception alert issuances are automatically sent according Tenant Resale Module The Tenant Resale module consists of an advanced set of tools that enables to manage and provide billing services, as well as managing accounts, history and activities, including invoices and payments. It provides all the information necessary for billing and monitoring activities. It supports service charges for both telecom and non-telecom items (office space etc.) Asset Management Asset Management offers flexible management of all assets (network hubs, trunks, devices, extensions, switches, 6
MA4000 has increased our overall productivity, while delivering flexibility and simplicity to our administration circuits, etc.) in the organization. All assets organized in the system s customizable tree structure can be assigned to a person, an organization unit or a cost plan. The system can import data from external sources, such as IT and wireless assets, as well as export all data to Excel/XML. Mobile Device Management Wireless devices and services are the fastest growing part of a company s telecom expense. Mobile Device Management offers a simple and powerful solution that will increase employee productivity and help track and manage wireless assets and corporate data. It works on almost every smartphone, on both corporate or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) assets. IT and security administrators can instantly kill corporate data on a lost or stolen device anytime, anywhere. Work Order/Helpdesk Work order management helps to enhance and manage an organization s service quality and response time. Utilizing the system s powerful process generator with time based alerting, timing statistics and comprehensive reports system, an organization can develop, track and coordinate as many work procedures as needed, for effective customer support management, while keeping close scrutiny of its internal work process. Summing it UP Centralized and open management system Single point of entry, intuitive and user friendly Excellent performance speedy report generation Graphical presentation of usage statistics Track & monitor usage of fixed and wireless devices Advanced security incl. extensive controls, masking, double password and granular authorization Latest technologies, incl virtualization, 64 bit and IPv6 Multi-language & currency, multi-switch & location Sophisticated customized reporting Web-based portal for anytime, anyplace management Centralized billing independent of server/switch type Works on all major vendor switches incl. NEC, Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel 7
For further information please contact your local NEC representative or: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) NEC Enterprise Solutions www.nec-enterprise.com About NEC Corporation: NEC Corporation is one of the world s leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 150,000 people worldwide. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com 10-201-01 November 12 2012 NEC Corporation. All rights reserved. NEC and the NEC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NEC Corporation that may be registered in Japan and other jurisdictions. All trademarks identified with or TM are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. Models may vary for each country, and due to continuous improvements this specification is subject to change without notice. Please refer to your local NEC representative(s) for further details.